Tuesday, February 12, 2013 – Four key albums from Capitol Records Nashville's catalog will be reissued on 180-gram vinyl on March 12. Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler," Glen Campbell's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," Merle Haggard's "Swinging Doors" and Wanda Jackson's "Rockin' With Wanda!" were mastered for vinyl and will be packaged in true-to-original LP sleeves with restored artwork.

Released in 1979, "The Gambler" was a pop crossover success, topping Billboard's Country Albums chart at number 1 and reaching number 12 on the Billboard 200. The album's smash hit ballad, She Believes In Me, topped Billboard's Country and Adult Contemporary Singles charts and peaked at number 5 on the Hot 100. The album's title track won two Grammy Awards: Best Country Vocal Performance, Male and Best Country Song. The album is five-times Platinum-certified by the RIAA with U.S. sales totaling more than 5 million copies.

Released in 1968, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" was also a major genre-crossing success, winning the year's coveted Album of the Year Grammy Award and topping Billboard's Country Albums chart at number 1 and reaching number 15 on the Billboard 200. The Platinum-certified album's title track hit number 1 on the Country Singles chart and peaked at number 26 on the Hot 100, and the song earned two Grammy Awards for Campbell: Best Vocal Performance, Male and Best Contemporary Solo Vocal Performance, Male.

Oklahoma native Haggard's third studio album, "Swinging Doors," was released in 1966. It hit number 1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart, and Haggard earned the year's Top Male Vocalist award from the Academy of Country Music.

Released in 1960, fellow Oklahoman Wanda Jackson's "Rockin' With Wanda!" is still considered to be the finest collection of the Queen of Rockabilly's signature singles from the mid to late 1950s, including Jackson's Let's Have a Party, which peaked at number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100, and I Gotta Know, which hit number 15 on Billboard's Country Singles chart. Jackson has enjoyed a resurgence thanks, in part, to Jack White, who produced her.

Already announced, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle be Unbroken" will also be reissued on 180-gram triple vinyl on March 12. Remastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, the new release is the first vinyl reissue of the recording.

CD reviews for Merle Haggard

Read Merle Haggard's Wikipedia entry. It talks, in the second sentence, of his having helped create the Bakersfield sound, with its "rough edge." Later, it discusses, at some length, his conservative touchstones, in particular Okie From Muskogee. While, in Wikipedia fashion, that may capture the popular perception of the recent Kennedy Center honoree, it doesn't hit at the core of what made him, along with Willie Nelson and George Jones, one of country music's three most »»»

It seems that the legendary country artists who survive to their later years, often make some of their best music during that time. It certainly was true with Johnny Cash and apparently Merle Haggard is primed to follow suit. The evidence of that is spread all over his new 12-song outing.
Haggard has gone introspective, but he has done it in such a way that most of the songs are easy for the listeners to apply to their own experiences. The opener, I've Seen It Go Away, is about losing the »»»

The Strangers are a talented and extremely flexible band, as Haggard's mood can vary from showing off his rich singing voice on ballads to playing the jazzy guitar hero via Western swing material. Thus, it takes a multi-faceted combo, like The Strangers, to keep up with Haggard's many moods.
This disc collects 15 Haggard TV clips, and the man is definitely not lip synching his way through these performances. For instance, viewers can clearly hear The Hag clear his throat right before »»»

Editorial: Walking the talk –
When names like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Waylon and the Hag are invoked, you're talking hard core country. These are the touchstones of country , the guys who made country music what it was and still is (or maybe can be). When these folks would sing about being down-and-out and the rough-and-tumble, they knew of what they were singing about. Fast forward a few years to the country singers of today. »»»

Concert Review: The Lil Smokies provide the perfect antidote –
On a night when the world to be falling further apart thanks to coronavirus (this would be the night the NBA postponed the season), there stood The Lil Smokies to at least in some small measure save the day.
The quintet is part of a generation of musicians with bluegrass as the basis, but not totally the sum of the music either.... »»»

Concert Review: White makes the case for himself, no matter how dark the music –
John Paul White opined with a glint in his eyes that his songs were not of the uplifting variety. In fact, they were downright dark. How else to explain "The Long Way" with the line "long way home back to you." Or "James," a song inspired by his grandfather who suffered from dementia.
But lest you think that the Alabama... »»»

"It had been a while since I'd given my fans any new solo music," Pam Tillis explains, when asked about the motivation behind recording her album "Looking for a Feeling." Until recently, Tillis mostly busied herself by recording and touring with... »»»

Sierra Hull would be the first to tell you that releasing a new CD in the teeth of a global pandemic is a challenge. "It's very strange...just adjusting to being home and knowing what that feels like. It's the most I've... »»»

Linda Gail Lewis has several interesting bullet points on her lengthy resume. She released her first singles in 1963 at age 16, and her first solo album, "The Two Sides of Linda Gail Lewis," in 1969 when she was just 22; her follow up album wouldn't appear... »»»

Welcome country traditionalist Tessy Lou Williams who hails from Montana, the daughter of two musicians who emigrated from Nashville to Willow Creek, Mont. (population 210). Her parents toured with their »»»

After a seven-year hiatus, Marshall Chapman is back with "Songs I Can't Live Without," her 14th release and eighth on her own label. The 71-year-old singer-songwriter-author-actress had intended to retire from music »»»

Nine songs in, Sara Evans finally unleashes a country song that she wanted to cover. And it's one of the most copied songs at that - Hank's "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." The cut is a decided left turn from the rest »»»